Kuwait Completes Oman Refinery Buy-In, Start-Up Slips To ‘2023-24’

Kuwait’s Supreme Petroleum Council confirmed that the KPI overseas arm of state oil firm KPC has taken 50% of Oman’s planned 230,000 b/d, $7bn Duqm export refinery. The announcement comes after former KPI chief Bakhit al-Rashidi was promoted to oil minister. This underlines the centrality of overseas downstream expansion in Kuwait’s petroleum strategy, although the government’s fractious relationship with parliament causes a high turnover of oil ministers.